Multi-sensory modalities for music learning

This paper describes a study that investigates the human senses important for music learning. The objective is to identify the appropriate modalities for musical applications. A survey was conducted to seek users' feedback mapping suitable human senses to various types of musical instruments, and ranking the senses according to their importance. Results suggested that touch sensation is considered the most important modality when playing musical instruments. The paper concludes with a discussion on the need to use suitable multi-sensory modalities when designing systems for music learning. © 2008 IEEE.